Welcome to Me - I look alone...
 

Hello everyone.

I'm not sure what I can to do to improve things - I think I am already pretty good on electrical usage. My gf and I used 53 KWh in 21 days, and 4 CCF of gas.

I'm a mechanical engineering grad student with a solid background in wind energy especially, although my research work is heading into thermoelectric power generation for space applications and heat pipes for computer processors.

Hello.

That's pretty impressive. Like you said; might not be cost effective to go much farther with conservation. Might be time for Alt. Power :-)

Where do you live?
How big is your home?

That is quite impressive! Specs on the home would be great.

I don't really know enough - it's a medium sized one bedroom apartment I share. I should admit that laundry isn't part of that which will make it less impressive. I live in Cambridge, MA - the same block as Harvard's Radcliffe Institute - so my rent more than accounts for anything I can save electricity-wise. I'm not shy about how much I am being ripped off for the location, so you may know that it is $1425 for this one bedroom...

How we do it: We only use laptops for the most part, we have no TV, just an LCD monitor and a TV tuner for and a local collection of movies and shows. All of our chargers for things like cell phones are on a surge protector that is switched off most of the time. The only serious consumer of electricity is the refrigerator.

Welcome, GenKreton

Sounds like you are very conscientious about your energy use, and I applaud that. Everyone can make a difference, no matter where you live. It is great to have you here, and with your background, I am sure you will be a huge resource.

Welcome to the boards GenKreton! :D Wow, it sounds like I may be picking your brain on more than one topic, haha. It's very nice to see other people who are as dedicated to conserving energy as you are.

As you said your fridge is the only power hog in the apartment, if you have any spare space in it, you may want to use some old bottles (whatever you may have around) and fill them with water and keep them in your fridge or freezer. The water absorbs and releases heat more slowly than the air it will be replacing, so it'll help keep your fridge from working so hard (nothing major, but it's easy and free :D) Although, you're the engineering student here, so please correct me if I'm wrong, or if you'd like to expand on it.

Again, welcome to the boards! I can't wait to see what else you have in mind!

Woody

53 kWh for 21 days is very small. You should get an autonomous solar system (ie with batteries) and get rid of your electricity bills :cool:

How do you protect from heat and cold ? These may generate big savings.

Denis.